Vandals Desecrate a Plaque Recalling an Early Nazi Camp

March 31, 1993

BERLIN (Mar. 30)

A plaque commemorating Oranienburg concentration camp, one of the first Nazi camps established, has been desecrated, police said this week.

Packets of paint were thrown at the plaque, which is placed on a wall surrounding the concentration camp that served the Nazi Storm Troopers between 1933 and 1935, when the nearby Sachsenhausen camp was opened.

Police have not identified those responsible for the vandalism.

Wednesday marks the 60th anniversary of the day in 1933 when the first transport of prisoners arrived at Oranienburg, located north of Berlin.

A German supermarket chain had intended to build a market on the site in Oranienburg’s city center, but the project was halted when the property’s history became known.

A similar issue arose at the former concentration camp of Ravensbruck, where protesters blocked the opening of a supermarket at the site.

In a related development, police in Halberstadt, 93 miles west of Berlin, have arrested four right-wing extremists, ages 20 and 21, who desecrated a monument to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust last April.

Two of the perpetrators confessed to having planned and carried out the offense. Three stood guard while the fourth desecrated the memorial.